Box for dispensing sheet material of clinging nature



T. G. HALEY A ril 3, 1962 BOX FOR DISPENSING SHEET MATERIAL OF CL-INGING NATURE 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 13, 1959 INVENTOR. 3'. Hod e/a ATTORNEY CLINGING NATURE T. G. HALEY April 3, 1962 BOX FOR DISPENSING SHEET MATERIAL OF Filed Aug. 15, 1959 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 L8 INVENTOR. lleodo'ie 3. Hulk/3 BY ryi /-I TTOHNE Y 9 H W6 v. flunlwmmmm l T. G. HALEY April 3, 1962 BOX FOR. DISPENSING SHEET MATERIAL OF CL-INGING NATURE Filed Aug. 13, 1959 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR.

Ufizodatz ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,028,060 BOX FOR DISPENSING SHEET MATERIAL OF CLINGING NATURE Theodore G. Haley, 1185 Linden Ave., Stratford, Conn. Filed Aug. 13, 1959, Ser. No. 833,533 20 Claims. (Cl. 225-53) This invention relates to a device for starting the payout of sheet material from a dispensing container after a length of the material has previously been withdrawn and torn off in a manner to leave no remnant of the sheet accessible outside the container. In common with certain improvements in my co-pending application Serial No. 741,581, filed June 12, 1958, a general purpose of the present improvements is to transmit impelling finger thrust to the dispensible sheet material through an opening in the container wall such as the cardboard side of a dispensing type of paper box after such sheet material has been ripped off flush with the toothed edge of a tear blade bordering the outlet through which the sheet material leaves the box.

Additional to this general object of the invention the present improvements solve problems peculiar to the dispensing of a sheet of material known commercially as saran, which is a plastic sheet material of extreme thinness and flexibility and little resilience having a very strong tendency to cling to whatever object it comes in surface contact with.

This strong tendency of saran to cling to contacted surfaces is useful in wrapping food or for enclosing dishes that contain food because requiring no extraneous means of fastening a sheet by the saran to maintain its wrapping formation. But by the same token saran sheet resists sliding relatively to any surface with which it is pressed into contact, as for instance by finger pressure in the method of ejecting foil sheet from the dispensing containers of my co-pending application. In this previously proposed method the sheet pays out from the box by passing between the front cardboard wall of the box and the tuck flap of the box cover against which latter the sheet is forced by finger pressure in the act of impelling the sheet to slide outwardly of the box. Accordingly, it is an object of these improvements to impel by finger movement a margin of saran sheet while contained within a dispensing box in a manner to avoid thrusting the sheet against a box surface that must remain stationary while the saran sheet slides relatively past it.

Heretofore this problem has been circumvented rather than solved by the expedient of displacing the toothed rip edge of the tear blade from its most desirable location bordering on the outlet from the box to a different location on the exterior of the box displaced some distance from the saran dispensing outlet. This has required the dispensed sheet of material to be torn olf along the toothed rip edge of a tear blade so located that the sheet can not be flexed to any more nearly a doubled-over condition than an angle of about 90. Easier and more successful severance of the sheet material becomes possible when the sheet can be bent sharply over the rip edge to a nearly doubled-over extent while tearing.

Saran, a plastic substance comprising a long chain synthetic polymer composed of at least 80% by weight of vinylidene chloride units, is a relatively expensive household material. In its common use as a covering for food it is objectionable from a sanitary standpoint that a wide margin of the saran sheet always be left dangling outside the box after the portion to be used has been torn off. Yet in the displaced location of the tear edge just described it becomes necessary either to newly tear off and waste the exposed remnant margin of the last used sheet before withdrawing the next length of sheet to be used,

or else to wrap against food a possibly contaminated surface of the saran.

Hence it is an important accomplishment of the present improvements that saran and similar thin plastic sheets of surface clinging type can be dispensed with the same ease of tear-01f and freedom from waste and protection from contamination that is possible to other sheet materials merchandized in conventional dispensing boxes such as have come into wide use for packaging rolls of sheet materials such as towel paper, shelf paper, wax paper, and aluminum foil commonly used in connection with the storage, cooking and refrigeration of foods.

A still further object of the improvements is to derive from the shape of the cardboard blank which is bent to form the box proper a certain cardboard part hereinafter termed a shuttle plate needed in the mechanical performance of a dispensing starter device according to this invention.

These and other objects of the improvements will appear in fuller particular from. the following description of alternative constructions of dispensing boxes by which the invention may be practiced, the description having reference to the appended drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective front view of a saran sheet dispensing box incorporating the invention.

FIG. 2 shows a manner of holding and manipulating the dispensing box when operating the presently improved dispensing starter device.

FIG. 3 shows the first step of sheet impelling finger movement which starts the pay out of the sheet through the discharge outlet of the box.

FIG. 4 shows the thumb and index finger of the operators same hand grasping the initially ejected sheet margin for pulling the desired length of usable sheet from the box.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary perspective view of the dispensing box drawn on an enlarged scale, partially broken away and sectioned crosswise to expose a contained roll of saran sheet.

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary view taken in section on the plane 66 in FIG. 5, looking in the direction of the arrows.

FIG. 7 shows the needed length of the saran sheet withdrawn from the box and in the process of being torn off flush with the toothed rip edge of a tear blade that borders the discharge opening, thus leaving no surplus or unused portion of the material dangling outside the box.

FIG. 8 is a perspective fragmentary view of the tuck flap of the box cover lifted clear of the front wall of the box to expose the improved dispensing starter in normal or lowest position relative to the tuck flap as in FIGS. 2 and 7.

FIG. 9 shows the dispensing starter of FIG. 8 about half raised to its uppermost position.

FIG. 10 shows the dispensing starter fully raised to uppermost position as in its stage of manipulation shown in FIGS. 3 and 4.

FIG. 11 is a fragmentary view of the front wall of the box and the tuck flap of the cover with parts partially broken away to expose modified parts of a dispensing starter.

FIG. 12 is a view taken in section on the plane 12-12 in FIG. 11 looking in the direction of the arrows.

FIG. 13 shows a still further modified construction of the box and dispensing starter of FIG. 1.

FIG. 14 is a view taken in section crosswise of the box on the plane 14-14 in FIG. 13, looking in the direction of the arrows and drawn on an enlarged scale.

FIG. 15 shows a developed shape of tuck flap of the box cover including a portion which can be broken oif without the use of tools to serve as a shuttle plate in the dispensing starter.

FIG. 16 shows the shuttle plate detached from edgewise joinder to the tuck flap and related thereto in normal or lowermost position of its reciprocative shifting movement.

FIGS. 17 and 18, respectively, show elevated stages of movement of the shuttle plate on its finger impelled way to its uppermost position indicated by broken lines in FIG. 16.

FIG. 19 is a fragmentary detail perspective view of one of the elastic connections that return the shuttle plate to its lowermost position in FIG. 16.

FIG. 20 is a fragmentary view showing a modification wherein a flexible membrane covers the finger admitting aperture in the box wall.

The dispensing container chosen to illustrate the present invention is a folded cardboard box 12 which may be of any desired length and is sufliciently large in crosswise compass to house a continuous rolled length of saran sheet 9 wound on and to be payed E from a core tube 10 that is loose and free to rotate in the box. An example of sheet material referred to herein as saran is a usually transparent sheet of plastic that comprises a long chain synthetic polymer composed of at least 80% by weight of vinylidene chloride units. It is relatively expensive in compmison with some of the other sheet materials commonly used in the household for storing, cooking or refrigerating foods. Some of its physical properties are relatively novel. These include a strong tendency to cling tenaciously upon contact with most any kind of surf-ace and with such all-over thoroughness that no extraneous fastening or binding is required to effect a more or less air tight seal in the wrapping of various household commodities. This makes it particularly convenient in the covering of dishes that contain food in refrigerating storage, or the direct wrapping of food of any kind whether or not contained in a dish. Its ability to keep out the air helps prevent foods from spoiling, prevents escape or access of ambient odors, prevents metal parts from rusting and preserves moisture and freshness in substances that would deteriorate by drying out.

Dispensing box 12 as shown in the drawings has a folding pasteboard cover 13 terminating as usual in a downward directed flap 14 that tucks in between the outer front wall 15 of the box and the front'edges of the inward bent, top flanges of the box ends 21 when cover 13 is folded into closed position. Upon being withdrawn from the box the saran sheet slides through a narrow passage between box wall 15 and tuck flap 14. For convenience in straight line tearing off of saran sheet withdrawn from the box and without resort to tools such as shears or a knife, the free top margin of the front box Wall 15 is equipped with a fine toothed tear blade 16 comprising a thin metal strip 17 fastened broadside against the outer surface of the top margin of box wall 15 at the passageway outlet 19.

A dispensing box so far as above described has become conventional, but it entails bothersome maneuvering by the finger tips to regain access to the contained saran sheet whose edge margin remains confined and concealed within the box after a dispensed length of the foil has been torn off by ripping it against the toothed edge 16 of the strip 17 as shown in FIG. 7. The present improvement makes instantly accessible, for withdrawing an additional length of saran sheet from the box, the projecting margin of a new run of the saran sheet. Such margin, by means of the present invention, becomes accessible for finger grasp outside the box in the manner shown in FIGS. 3 and 4.

My improved dispensing starter for accomplishing this is located directly behind an aperture 18 in the front wall 15 of box 12. It comprises a shuttle plate 24 movably mounted on the tuck flap 14 to reciprocate edgewise in the passageway between tuck flap 14 and the front box wall by means of cardboard hinge pieces 25 scored crosswise to flex easily in either angular direction at two sharp bends 26 and 27. One end portion 28 of each hinge piece 25 is fastened and permanently adhered to the front surface of tuck flap 14 while the other end portion 29 of the hinge piece is fastened and permanently adhered to a top corner of the shuttle plate 24. Between each hinge end 28 and the shuttle plate 24 there is fixedly secured the top end of a straight narrow strip 30 of elastic. The lower end of elastic 30 is fixed against the front face of the tuck flap 14 by means of an overlying swatch of thin cardboard 31 or the like glued or otherwise fixed to the front face of the tuck flap. Thus the hinge pieces 25 and the elastics 30 cooperate in biasing the shuttle plate to shift edgewise downward in a direction away from outlet 19 while enabling the shuttle plate 24 to shift from its lowermost position in FIGS. 2, 7 and 8 through an intermediate position shown in FIG. 9 to an uppermost position shown in FIGS. 3, 4 and 10.

Shuttle plate 24 has a front face extending along its bottom margin which may or may not be non-adhesively rougher than bare plain cardboard surface such, for instance, as would be afforded bya a thin patch 32 of sandpaper-like substance of very fine grit.

As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 the dispensible saran sheet extends from the roll 9 on core tube 10 across the bottom edge of the tuck flap 14 and thence upward in the passageway, spanning aperture 18 between the patch 32 and the front wall 15 of the dispensing box. Thus finger pressure applied through aperture 18 inward of the box and against the saran sheet urges the saran backward against patch 32 011 the shuttle card in which condition a lifting motion is applied to the saran sheet by the operators finger as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. Such finger lifting motion will carry with it a small length of the saran sheet accompanied by upward shifting of shuttle plate 24 in unison with the saran. This results in a narrow margin of the saran sheet becoming accessible outside of outlet 19 to be grasped by the thumb and index finger of the operators same hand as shown in FIG. 4. At this stage of the dispensing starting the pressure of the operators finger against the saran sheet through aperture 18 will be released. Immediately the elastic 39 will draw down the shuttle plate 24 automatically from its high position in FIG. 10 to its low position in FIG. 8 ready for repeated use to assist in the starting of the dispensing of the next length of saran sheet that is to be withdrawn from the dispensing box.

In the foregoing described action of the parts it will be observed that there is no rubbing of the saran sheet against and relatively to any surface of the box while pressed in contact therewith. This is due to the ability of the shuttle plate 24 to move upward in unison with the saran sheet when the latter is finger impelled. The cut-out 33 in the top edge of the shuttle plate bares both surfaces of the saran sheet to be grasped between the thumb and index finger when the shuttle plate has been raised above the outlet 1? upon being manipulated as in FIG. 3.

In FIGS. 11 and 12 the hinge pieces 25 are shown to be mod fied to have two bends 41 additional to the bends 26, 27 for increasing the extent to which the shuttle plate 24 can move upward and downward. In this construction the elastic strips 41 can conveniently be secured to the tuck flap 14 of the box cover by passing through a notch 43 in a modified shape of mounting swatch '44 which has a greater area of surface for adhering to the front face of the tuck flap than is the case with the swatches 31 in FIGS. 8, 9 and 10. Also in FIGS. 11 and 12 it will be noted that the cut-out 33 in the top edge of the shuttle plate 2 4' differs in shape, and the patch 32' is of wider extent lengthwise of the box to provide a more extensive surface of clinging contact with the saran sheet for help in impelling rolls of extra wide sheets to be dispensed from an extra long box.

In FIGS. 13 to 16, inclusive, it is shown that a shuttle plate 48 can be produced from the predeveloped shape of the box blank so as to be torn off and made available for use upon opening the box cover. FIG. 15 shows a modified shape of box blank adapted to this use wherein an extended portion 49 cf the tuck flap 14 is perfe ated at 50,

in line with the remaining edge of the tuck flap, and also has punched out of it the triangular aperture 51. These combine to make the blank portion 49 separable from the rest of the tuck flap by bending it back and forth along the perforated line 50 until it easily breaks off. After this it remains movably coupled to the tuck flap by means of the pre-aflixed elastic strips 52. Each of these strips has an end portion 53 attached to the tuck flap 14 and an end portion 54 attached to the now detached shuttle plate 48. The intermediate length 55 of elastics 52 as well as the end portions 53 and 54 can be faced on each side by a covering 56, preferably of non-stretchable sheet material such as paper or thin cardboard. These covers may be applied to both surfaces of the elastic strip or to either surface alone. Such covering material is discontinuous lengthwise of the elastic being in three, end-to-end, adjoining sections either initially unattached to one another or scored or perforated to readily separate from one another endwise when the elastic is stretched. At the same time the partial lengths of the elastics which have the coverings 56 bonded to their surfaces are thereby restrained from stretching so that the stretch in the. elastic takes place mainly but not solely between the covered sections at 57. The non-stretchable covers 56 further afford a ready means of attaching the elastics to the tuck flap and to the shuttle plate if made of paper which can be glued in surface contact with the cardboard of the box parts.-

In FIG. 15 the paper covered elastic strips 52 are shown pre-aflixed to the box blank before the shuttle plate portion 49 is detached therefrom. They may be so affixed in a doubled-up relationship of the elastic end section 53 to the intermediate length 55 as in the case of the elastic 52 at the left in FIG. 15 or in a straight-away relationship of both ends 53 and 54 to intermediate length 55 as in the case of elastic 52 at the right in FIG. 15. Shuttle plate 48 is shown to be equipped with a cling patch 58 like that shown at 32 in the other forms of the construction. In the absence of an actual patch for this purpose the surface of the tuck flap 14 may be correspondingly treated to serve this purpose, or when used with sheet material having the extremely clingy nature of saran may even be left bare. The shuttle plates 24 or 48 may be of suitable materials other than carboard such as hard or soft, smooth or rough surfaced plastics.

The form of the improvements shown in FIGS. 13 to 19 makes unnecessary any forward bodily movement of shuttle plate 48 as it is impelled to rise edgewise in unison with the payed-out saran sheet. In this respect it tends to give more freedom for edgewise reciprocative movements of the plate than is the case with the shuttle plate 24 in FIGS. 1 toll.

Upon opening a new box whose folding cover is equipped with a break-off shuttle plate forming portion 49, as in FIG. 15, the user will find it easy by bending such portion back and forth, together with the paper faced elastics 52, to produce severance of the elastic facings and of shuttle plate 48. The latter then becomes a loose part except for remaining coupled to the tuck flap 14' by elastics 52. The plate will then be shifted into its relationship to the tuck flap shown in full lines in FIG. 16 and the box cover 13 closed to restore flap 14 to its tuckedin relationship to the front wall 15 of the box. After this the shuttle plate is free to move edgewise upward and downward in the general manner of shuttle plate 24 in FIGS. 1-10.

FIG. 20 shows the box and dispensing starter of any of FIGS. 1 to 19 equipped with a flexible membrane 29 spanning the finger admitting aperture 18 or 18 in the wall of the box to sanitize the sheet material dispensed from the box by keeping it covered when not in use and by preventing direct pressure contact of the sheet impelling finger with the sheet material being expelled from the box. Three or more margins of the very thin and flexible membrane 29 can be cemented or otherwise adhered to the inner or outer surface of the front wall 15 of the box and the bottom margin of the membrane can be left free to move relatively to the box wall. Further details of a membrane such as 29 are set forth in my copending patent application, Serial No. 803,794, filed April 2, 1959, now US. Patent No. 2,951,623 issued September 6, 1960.

In addition to the modifications herein suggested the parts may be given various and other sundry shapes and relationships embodying the principles of the invention differing widely from the precise structures herein disclosed to illustrate such principles, wherefore the following claims are directed to and intended to cover all structures which come within a broad interpretation of their terms.

I claim:

1. A box for dispensing sheet material comprising, a cover having a tuck flap, a wall of said box containing an aperture flanked inwardly of the box by a continuous expanse of said tuck flap solidly backing substantially the full area of said aperture to form a passageway between said box wall and tuck flap terminating in a narrow outlet through which sheet material can be withdrawn from the box, a shuttle plate movably mounted to reciprocate edgewise in said passageway in a path mainly parallel with said flap and having a front surface facing said aperture, and resilient means biasing said plate to shift edgewise in 'said parallel path along said passageway in a direction away from said outlet, whereby dispensible sheet material to be withdrawn from the box when threaded through said passageway can be reached through said aperture for direct impelling engagement by the finger of the operator pressing against said flap surface to cause said shuttle plate to slide in unison with said sheet toward said outlet.

2. A box for dispensing sheet material as defined in claim 1, in which a portion of the said front surface of the said shuttle plate is of clingy texture.

3. A box for dispensing sheet material as defined in claim 1, in which the edge of the said shuttle plate nearest the said outlet is concave to a sufficient extent to bare for thumb and finger grasp both marginal surfaces of a dispensible sheet of material having a straight edge spanning the concavity of said plate edge.

4. A box for dispensing sheet material as defined in claim 1, in which the said resilient means comprises at least one elastic strip attached at one end to the said tuck flap and at the other end to the said shuttle plate.

5. A box for dispensing sheet material as defined in claim 1, in which at least a portion of the said front surface of the said shuttle plate has a more clingy texture than the bare surface of smooth cardboard.

6. A box for dispensing sheet material as defined in claim 5, in which the said portion of the said front surface of the said shuttle plate comprises a patch having an exposed surface of roughened texture overlying said plate surface.

7. A box for dispensing sheet material as defined in claim 6 in which the said patch comprises a layer of fine grit abrasive paper.

8. A box for dispensing sheet material as defined in claim 1, together with a bendable paper hinge connecting the said shuttle plate in edgewise shiftable relation to the said tuck flap.

9. A box for dispensing sheet material as defined in claim 8, in which the said resilient means comprises at least one elastic strip attached to one end to the said tuck flap and at the other end to the said shuttle plate, said elastic strip bridging the bendable portions of the said paper hinge.

10. A box for dispensing sheet material as defined in claim 1, in which the said tuck flap is a bent portion of flat cardboard stock from which said box cover is made, and the said shuttle plate is an extended portion of the said flat cardboard stock detached from said tuck flap.

11. A box for dispensing sheet material as defined in claim 10, in which the said resilient means comprises at least one elastic strip coupling the said shuttle plate to the part of the said tuck flap that remains after said shuttle plate is detached therefrom.

12. A box for dispensing sheet material as defined in claim 11, in which the said elastic strip is faced in at least one portion of its stretchable length with a nonstretchable surface covering bonded thereto.

13. A box for dispensing sheet material as defined in claim 12, in which the said elastic strip is jacketed in at least one portion of its stretchable length with a nonstretchable covering bonded thereto.

14. A box for dispensing sheet material comprising, a cover having a tuck flap, a'wall of said box containing an aperture flanked inwardly of the box by a continuous expanse of said tuck flap solidly backing substantially the full area of said aperture to form a passageway between said box and tuck flap terminating in a narrow outlet through which sheet material can be withdrawn from the box, shiftable means mounted for reciprocative movement in and confined to said passageway in relation to said flap and having a front surface facing said aperture, and resilient means biasing said shiftahle means in a direction along said passageway away from said outlet, whereby dispensible sheet material to be withdrawn from the box can be threaded through said passageway and reached through said aperture for direct impelling engagement by the finger of the operators hand While pressed against said .front surface of said shiftable means thereby to cause said shiftable means to overcome the bias .of said resilient means and slide in unison with said sheet toward said outlet.

15. A box for dispensing sheet material as defined in 8 claim 14, in which the said resilient means comprises a flexible stretchable elastic.

16. A box for dispensing saran sheet material as defined in claim 14, together with a tear blade fixed on the said wall of the box having an uninterrupted rip edge permanently continuous from one to the other end of said box wall and closely flanking the said outlet from the said passageway.

17. A box for dispensing sheet material as defined in claim 17 in which the said resilient means comprises a flat paper card, together with hinge means operatively coupling said card to the said tuck flap.

18. A box for dispensing sheet material as defined in claim 17 in which the said resilient means comprises a flexible stretchable elastic.

19. A box for dispensing sheet material as defined in claim 14, together with flexible membranous means covering the said aperture in the said box wall.

20. A box for dispensing sheet material as defined in claim 19, in which the said membranous means comprises a flexible membranehaving a friction afiording outer surface accessible for finger contact at the said aperture.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,827,029 Marcalus Oct. 13, 1931 2,713,939 Lear July 26, 1955 FOREIGN PATENTS 45,119 France June 13, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No, 3,028 060 April 3 1962 Theodore G. Haley It is hereby certified that error appears in the above numbered patent requiring correction and that the said Letters Patent should read as corrected below.

Column 8 line 10, for the claim reference numeral "17" read l4 Signed and sealed this 24th day of July 1962.

SEA L) Axum:

ERNEST w. SWIDER DAVID LADD Amfiting Office! Commissioner of Patents 

